Thursday, November 24, 2016

No one was
complaining about the weather last week in New York, especially last Shabbos.
Sixty degrees with bright sunshine in mid-November is well above the average
temperature for this time of year. But within a few hours after Shabbos ended,
the weather changed drastically. The wind picked up as the temperature dropped,
and by Sunday morning the first snowfall of the season coated our area. By
Monday afternoon it felt like mid-February, with another inch of snow on the
ground, and hardly a trace of the previous week’s beautiful weather.

On Sunday
morning, our three-year-old Dovid took one look out the window and immediately became
very excited. “It looks like cream cheese! I want to go outside and play in the
snow!” Standing in his pajamas, peering out the window, he seemed to have
forgotten that if there is snow on the ground, it means it’s freezing outside,
and you can’t go out in your pajamas.

When he came
out of school on Monday afternoon he was disappointed that most of the snow was
gone and he commented that, “It looks like someone ate the cream cheese.”

On Friday night
before Kiddush we extol the virtues of the Aishes Chayil (Woman of Valor). The
prayer, originally said by Avrohom Avinu as his eulogy for Sarah Imeinu, was
later recorded in Mishlei by Shlomo Hamelech.

One of the
praises stated there is: “She does not fear for her household from snow, for
all of her household is clothed with scarlet wool.” (Mishlei 31:21)

After it snows everything
is blanketed in crisp white. During the early morning after a snowstorm there
is a serene stillness, under a coat of pristine beauty. At that time everything
looks exactly the same, no matter what is beneath the snow,

Every person
craves individuality through recognizing and capitalizing on his/her unique
talents and capabilities. The world covered in snow symbolizes everything being
the same. It may appear beautiful and serene, but it also negates the uniqueness
of all the colors beneath.

When raising
children we are reminded constantly about how vital it is to recognize the
individuality of each ad every child. It can be damaging when children are
grouped together and only dealt with collectively, without paying attention to
each one’s distinct personality.

The Aishes
Chayil has invested in her children the love and time necessary for each of
them to recognize their own greatness. She doesn’t fear that her children will
become “lost in the shuffle”. She isn’t concerned that her children will feel
like the world when coated in snow, where all uniqueness is obscured. The
Aishes Chayil has built her family from within, dressing each in the colorful wools
of their own spirit and talents. She always seeks ways to help them appreciate
their individuality, and so she is confident that they will always maintain a
sense of pride in who they are and in what they can accomplish.

This Friday, 24
MarCheshvan, we celebrate the Bas Mitzvah of our oldest daughter, Aviva Rochel.
Like any parent who reaches such a milestone, we have a hard time believing it
- that we have a daughter who is now joining the elite ranks of responsibility within
Klal Yisroel.

We b’h have
great nachas from her. We also hope that we have been successful in “dressing
her in wool”, by helping her recognize her personal uniqueness, throughout her
formative years. We also daven that she will never fear the vicissitudes that
are par for the course of living in this world.

May Hashem
continue to bless us with nachas from Aviva and from all her siblings, and may
He give us the wisdom, patience, and insight to warm each of their souls with
the wool that will protect them from the snowy tempests of life.

Disclaimer: The following is not an
endorsement of any candidate - not of their views, behaviors, or comments. It
is merely a perspective on the reality of what has occurred.

“Now it is done. Now the story ends. And
there is no way to tell it. The art of fiction is dead. Reality has strangled
invention. Only the utterly impossible, the inexpressibly fantastic, can ever
be plausible again.”

(Red Smith, New York Hearld-Tribune,
“Miracle of Coogan’s Bluff”, October 4, 1951; the day after Bobby Thomson hit
the legendary walk-off homerun that won the Giant’s the pennant over the
Brooklyn Dodgers.)

How powerful is
the media? How much of an effect do they have on our general perspective?

In regards to
contemporary issues the ‘media experts’ present their opinion as they want it
to be presented. As Jews, we especially know just how powerful they are. The
media is heavily responsible for the anti-Israel bias that pervades campuses
and liberal America. The lies and skewered truth that they so often portray
leave us scratching our heads about how blatant facts can be so distorted.

This week’s
election results stunned the world and shocked the media. There’s a certain satisfaction
hearing so many of the “experts” admit that they were wrong. Things they said
could not, and would never happen, happened.

Those who were
hoping for the first female president to be elected felt disillusioned and
disappointed that the “glass ceiling” was not shattered. It seems however, that
there was a significant “glass ceiling” that was shattered – that of the
arrogance of the media moguls. No one knows what the results will be and
whether this will be a positive change for America or not. But the unthinkable
has already occurred.

In our long and
painful history, numerous unthinkable events happened. Many of them have been
painful and terrifying. This week marks the commemoration of Kristallnacht, the
night of broken glass, when 250 shuls were burned, 700 Jewish businesses were
ransacked, and many Jews were tortured and killed throughout Germany in 1938.
Rav Shimon Schwab zt’l noted that the infamous night is called Kristallnacht,
not so much because of the broken glass that littered the streets. Rather it
was the shattering of the illusion that it could not happen.

On the other
hand, there have so many incredibly wonderful events that have occurred to our
nation, despite the fact that they “could not happen”: The Jewish People’s
return to Eretz Yisroel and the formation of a Jewish government, victory in
1967 and recapturing of Yerushalayim, the successful Entebbe raid, the
rebuilding of the Jewish world and Torah observance after the Holocaust, and
the falling of Communism and freedom of three million Jews in the Soviet Union.
Before they occurred, it was absolutely impossible for them to happen. But then
they did.

The fact that we
have witnessed the impossible occurring is in the very genetics of our nation. In
Parshas Lech Lecha, Hashem told Avrohom that he should count the stars “if you
can count them”. Then Hashem added “So will be your descendants”.

Rav Meir Shapiro
zt’l noted that Hashem was conveying to Avrohom that just as he was being
instructed to count the stars even though it was impossible “So will be your
children”. In other words, they will accomplish and persevere, despite it being
impossible.

What the outcome
of the new presidency will be remains to be seen. But the very fact that he
won, despite the fact that everyone said it was impossible, is a stark reminder
that we mortals do not decide what can or cannot happen.

So many people
in their private lives have great dreams about things they want to accomplish. In
the daily grind, it’s easy to become disillusioned and discouraged, and to give
up on those dreams. This is especially true when the ‘realists’ say that it
will never happen. This week served as a reminder that things can happen even
when they are impossible. This surely does not mean they will happen just
because we try so hard and want it so badly. But it does remind us that the
experts do not decide our fate.

Of course, the
whole idea of Moshiach coming, and all of Klal Yisroel returning to Eretz
Yisroel, with the rebuilding of the Bais Hamikdash, and the end of terrorism is
also absolutely impossible. Yet we, and the world, will witness it unfolding…
very soon.

And then again
the media will be forced to admit just how wrong they were!

Thursday, November 10, 2016

Mr. Irwin Cohen, writes a column
in the Jewish Press, entitled “The Baseball Insider”. In one article, he
related a personal experience from October 8, 1956. At the time, he was a ninth
grader at Detroit’s Yeshiva Beth Yehudah. That day was Game Five of the World
Series between the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Yankees. The series was
tied 2-2.

Sal Maglie, a 39-year-old
veteran who had a 13-6 record and 2.89 ERA during the 1956 season, was pitching
for the Dodgers. Don Larsen, 27, who hadn’t lasted through the second inning of
Game Two, was pitching for the Yankees.

During the yeshiva lunch break,
Cohen made his way to the nearby gas station, where he saw all of the
attendants huddled around the radio. The unthinkable had happened – the
unlikely Don Larson had pitched a Perfect Game, not one Dodger had reached base
the entire game. No one before and no one since to date has ever pitched a Perfect
Game in the Post Season.

Cohen relates that he ran back
to yeshiva and met his rebbe in the hallway. His rebbe asked him who won the
game. When he replied that the Yankees won, and Larson had pitched a perfect
game, his rebbe slapped him across the face, wagged his finger towards him and
said “Don’t lie!”

When he reminded his rebbe of
the incident years later, the rebbe would chuckle and reply, “Would you believe
me if I told you Larsen pitched a perfect game?”

On Erev Succos a few weeks ago, I was hanging
up decorations in our succah together with our (almost) Bas Mitzvah daughter,
Aviva. As she was stapling a poster depicting the seven Ushpizin, Aviva asked
me why it is specifically those seven – Avrohom, Yitzchok, Yaakov, Moshe,
Aharon, Yosef, and Dovid – who have the distinction of being the Ushpizin whose
“spirit” joins us in the succah each night of the Yom Tov.

Just a few hours earlier, I had seen an
explanation from Rabbi Gamliel Rabinowitz shlita, in his sefer, Tiv HaSuccos. Rabbi
Gamliel explains that each of the seven Ushpizin – known in kabbalah as the “Sheva
Roim – seven Shepherds of Klal Yisroel”, experienced tremendous challenges
during their lifetimes. As there is no person who doesn’t experience
significant challenges in life, I assume Rabbi Gamliel means that the
challenges they faced had national ramifications for Klal Yisroel. Avrohom
passed ten major tests, Yitzchok allowed himself to be offered on the akeidah,
Yaakov dealt with challenges of Eisav, Lavan, Dinah, and Yosef, Moshe dealt
with the ongoing tribulations of leadership, Aharon was together with Moshe,
and also encountered the loss of his two holy sons, Yosef had to traverse the
incredible test of temptation with the
wife of his master, and he had to deal with familial rejection and isolation,
finally Dovid’s whole life was challenge after challenge – internally and
externally.

On
Yom Kippur, in a certain sense, we all pitch “a perfect game”. We spend the day
immersed in spiritual pursuits, committing ourselves to growth and improvement,
and seeking to rectify the follies and iniquities we have committed.

But we do not,
and cannot, live our lives on that lofty Yom Kippur level. Yom Kippur comes to
and end and regular life resumes. The holiday of Succos gives us an extra infusion
of spirituality to help us maintain all that we have gained during the Days of
Awe. What greater chizuk could there be than from the seven supreme leaders of
our nation, whose greatness was only achieved through overcoming challenges and
vicissitudes.

And when the
holiday of Succos concludes, we spend the dark months of winter reminding
ourselves of the lessons of those Seven Shepherds, each week through the Torah
reading (Two of the haftoras in Bereishis are about Dovid Hamelech).

It’s not perfection
that we seek, but slow and steady growth, overcoming daily challenges, and
never settling on who/what we can become.

Thursday, November 3, 2016

One of the most
exciting aspects of Yom Tov is the preparation during the days beforehand.
Don’t get me wrong - I don’t like schlepping, shopping, and cleaning. But I
love the atmosphere, the frenzied feeling that Yom Tov is in the air.

Conversely, the cleanup
after Yom Tov is always sad. Dismantling and putting the succah back into the
garage where it will remain for the next eleven months is a tremendous letdown.
The same holds true for putting away the Pesach dishes after Pesach. Sure,
everyone is excited to eat that first bit of chometz, but it is with a tinge of
sadness that the beautiful holiday of Pesach is over. There are even many women
who admit that, despite the fact that they are relieved not to have cook again,
they miss the ambiance and festive atmosphere of Yom Tov.

I always feel that the
end of Succos is harder than the end of Pesach, because when Pesach ends spring
is only beginning, and Sefiras Haomer is well underway, in our journey towards
Mattan Torah. The conclusion of Succos however, marks the onset of the colder
part of the year. It will also be another six months before we have the
opportunity to recite the uplifting Yom Tov Shemoneh Esrei, beginning “You have
chosen us from all of the other nations, You have loved us, and found favor in
us…”

To subdue some of that
sadness, as I am putting the Yom Tov materials away I like to think that I am
essentially preparing for next year. As each succah board is piled upon the
other, I try to imagine the excitement of taking the succah boards out again
just a few weeks before next Succos, just like I felt a few weeks ago when I
took out the succah for this year.

It is always amazing to
think how about how much has changed between when I put the succah away last
year to this year.

This type of thought
process is probably most acutely felt during Kol Nidrei, when the chazzan states
that he is seeking to annul all vows - “From last Yom Kippur to this Yom
Kippur, and from this Yom Kippur to next Yom Kippur.” [There are differing
opinions about the text, but that is the generally accepted text.] The night of
Yom Kippur is inherently a time of nostalgia and deep emotions, so mentioning
the past and the future evokes even stronger emotions. It forces us to think
about those who were here last year but are no longer with us, as well as those
who were not here last year but are now. On a personal level, last Yom Kippur/Succos,
we would never have even dreamed that this year we would have twin boys, b’h.

More important than all
the physical succos that we construct and dismantle each year, are the
spiritual structures that we construct. The memories we create, the mitzvos we
perform, the elevated feeling of closeness we have to G-d - those are never
dismantled. They remain in our hearts and minds and infuse us with vivacity
throughout the year.